I do not think Obama will impose a carbon tax. That would require Congressional consent. And he will never get that. But he will not kibosh the Keystone pipeline either. There are too many jobs on the line. If Obama nixed Keystone, he would lose the Senate.

The Conservatives have lobbied vigorously in support of Calgary-based TransCanada's plan to build a $7-billion pipeline to take up to 800,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta to refineries on the Gulf Coast. As a result, environmentalists have used social media and traditional protests to heap scorn on Canada.

The only certain winner in the Keystone decision is China, which is now one step closer to being able to access Canadian oil at no cost to them. Stephen Harper will now use his visit to China in February to promote Canadian oil.